Archdiocese for the
Military Services, USA
The Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA (“the Archdiocese”), was originally established and placed under the direction of the archbishop of New York and came to be in its present form, under its own archbishop, in Washington, D.C., in 1985. The Archdiocese serves military personnel at 220 installations, patients at 172 VA medical facilities, and federal employees in 134 countries. The Most Reverend Edwin F. O’Brien, who was installed as archbishop in 1997, leads the Archdiocese. A compliance audit of the Archdiocese was conducted during the period of October 13-17, 2003.

The information presented below represents conditions as they were found during the week of the audit. Information regarding necessary corrective actions taken by the Archdiocese subsequent to the audit will be found in the last paragraph.

Findings

To Promote Healing and Reconciliation
The Archdiocese has a prevention policy on sexual abuse of minors that provides for an outreach program designed to provide immediate pastoral care to victims/survivors and their families. In addition, the Archdiocese cooperates with all of the other dioceses in the country, since all priests who become chaplains are “on loan” from other dioceses. Generally, the victims/survivors and their families who are military personnel use the services of the Archdiocese, and other victims/survivors and families are served by the diocese in which the priest was originally ordained. The Archdiocese has a victim assistance coordinator, Retired Navy Rear Admiral Thomas J. Connelly, who is also vice-chancellor. A lay review board, consisting of three lay members of the community and two clergy, was established in November 2002. The procedures for making a complaint of abuse were available on the website but were not in printed form, nor had they been subject to periodic announcement and distribution. An Instruction was written requiring that the procedures be made available in printed form and be periodically distributed or announced. The Archdiocese has entered into no confidentiality agreements since June 2002.

To Guarantee Effective Response to Allegations of Abuse of a Minor
The Archdiocese has had no contact with local civil authorities regarding allegations of sexual abuse of a minor, because no allegations have been reported to the Archdiocese since June 2002. The archdiocesan policy, however, provides for immediate reporting of allegations to the appropriate authorities, including the home diocese and civil and military authorities of the accused. The Archdiocese has a procedure in place for advising victims/survivors of their right to report allegations of sexual abuse by a member of the clergy to civil authorities. The Archdiocese does not have a separate clear and well-publicized code of conduct for priests and deacons, as it relies on the Uniform Military Code of Justice. An Instruction was written requiring the Archdiocese to adopt, articulate, and publish standards of ministerial behavior and appropriate boundaries to assist chaplains in their contact with minors. The Archdiocese has a communications policy reflecting the archbishop’s pledge to be open and transparent on issues regarding the sexual abuse of children.

To Ensure Accountability of Procedures
The Archdiocese has cooperated with the research study regarding the “nature and scope” of the problem of sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy.

To Protect the Faithful in the Future
The Archdiocese does not employ any lay personnel or volunteers to work with minors. The Archdiocese adopted the U.S. Navy’s Family Advocacy Program to train its chaplains, but whether this program provides sufficient safe environment training for the chaplains could not be determined. An Instruction was issued for the Archdiocese to evaluate the above program and determine whether it satisfies the requirements of the Charter. As mentioned above, the Archdiocese had not publicized specific standards of conduct for chaplains; thus, the above Instruction included a requirement to establish standards of conduct and boundaries for chaplains in their dealings with minors. The Archdiocese has completed background investigations on all members of the clergy. The Archdiocese has not transferred any priests or deacons who have had credible allegations of sexual abuse lodged against them to any other diocese for ministerial assignment or residence since June 2002, since this action would ordinarily be taken by the permanent ecclesiastical superior. The archbishop, the major superiors of religious orders having a presence in the Archdiocese, and the diocesan bishops in which the Archdiocese has a presence have coordinated their respective roles regarding issues of allegations of sexual abuse of a minor made against a clerical member of a religious institute. The Archdiocese has not had an opportunity to cooperate with other churches, religious bodies, and institutes of learning in conducting research in the area of sexual abuse of minors. The Archdiocese has not established screening and evaluative techniques in the selection of candidates for ordination, since by policy the Archdiocese does not incardinate clergy. The Archdiocese sponsors regular training programs for the formation of priests.

Compliance with the Provisions of the Charter

At the conclusion of this audit, the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, was issued three Instructions.

INSTRUCTION 1—The Archdiocese will make its procedure for filing a complaint of sexual abuse of a minor by a cleric available in printed form and will periodically distribute this information.

INSTRUCTION 2—The Archdiocese will establish, publish, and otherwise make public standards for ministerial behavior and boundaries to assist chaplains in their contacts with minors.

INSTRUCTION 3—The Archdiocese will confirm what safe environment training the chaplains receive and determine whether this training satisfies the Charter’s training mandate.

As of December 1, 2003, all Instructions had been addressed. The Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, is found to be compliant with the provisions of the Charter as measured by the process described in Chapter 2 in Section I.


*The compliance audit measured activity that has occurred since the adoption of the Charter in June 2002 with the exception of certain mandated actions found in Articles 5 and 14. Actions taken by the diocese/eparchy prior to June 2002 to address allegations of sexual abuse of minors by priests and deacons are not included in this summary report.




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Office of Child and Youth Protection
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
3211 4th Street, N.E., Washington, DC 20017-1194
(202) 541-5413 | FAX: (202) 541-5410
Email: ocyp@usccb.org